Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday and agreed to strengthen bilateral relations. “We confirmed that we are cooperative partners and absolutely do not pose a threat to each other,” Abe said after the meeting.

The U.S. Air Force flew two long-range nuclear-capable B-52H Stratofortress bombers over the South China Sea this week. China branded the flight “provocative” on Thursday and blamed the United States for deteriorating relations between the two countries.

Japan courted the wrath of China on Monday by announcing its submarine Kuroshio has been dispatched to join an anti-submarine warfare exercise in the South China Sea on Thursday, marking the first officially confirmed drill for a Japanese sub in those contested waters.

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis became the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit Japan on Friday, offering reassurances that America’s commitment to regional security remains firm and promising that Japanese kidnapping victims will not be forgotten during negotiations with North Korea.

James Delingpole and British MP Daniel Kawczynski discuss potential successors to British Prime Minister Theresa May. Among their favorites are MPs Jacob Rees Mogg and Priti Patel. Also, James and Kawczynski weigh in on Brexit, Poland, and the changes in Saudi Arabia.

On Saturday, Japan activated its first marine combat unit since World War Two. China immediately panicked over the relatively small Japanese force, denouncing the revival of “militarism” under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and advising every other Asian nation to go on “high alert” in the state-run Global Times.

The Japanese military claims to have discovered a Chinese Shang-class nuclear attack submarine in the East China Sea, operating submerged near the disputed Senkaku Islands on the perimeter of Japanese territorial waters. The sub was initially detected on Thursday and then spotted again on Friday cruising on the surface and sporting a Chinese flag.

The latest issue of the National Interest asks if we are looking at “war in Asia” within the next decade or so. The question asked collectively by the headline articles is whether the multi-sided contest between China, the Koreas, and Japan can be resolved without someone, somewhere, pulling a trigger. The urgent question for U.S. policymakers is whether America can do anything to make overt hostilities less likely.

From the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan as it sat alongside Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, Vice President Mike Pence commended military troops with a message from the president, in the same speech bringing robust affirmation of the United States’ commitment to longtime ally Japan.

Emboldened by a visit from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Beijing has celebrated as a success, China has lodged a protest with the United States over a B-1 bomber flying within an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) set over Japan’s Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang sternly criticized Washington for supporting Japan’s sovereignty over the East China Sea’s Senkaku Islands, demanding the U.S. “exercise prudence and stop making wrong remarks so as not to complicate relevant issues.”

The Chinese government sent three warships to sail within 12 nautical miles of Japan’s Senkaku Islands shortly after U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis concluded his visit to South Korea and Japan.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis concluded his visit to Japan this weekend with a glowing statement praising Tokyo as a “model of cost-sharing” on defense, while warning China that the United States will not hesitate to defend Japan’s East China Sea islands should Beijing make a move to colonize them.

Japan’s defense minister announced in Washington Thursday that the nation is seeking to participate in joint maritime exercises with the United States in the South China Sea, a direct challenge to China’s repeated demands for Japan to stay out of the region.

The Chinese government took a respite from its criticism of Japan for denying its unilateral claims over disputed territories of the East China Sea to thank Japanese rescuers for saving six Chinese sailors whose ship capsized near the Senkaku Islands.

Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki summoned China’s ambassador to Japan early Thursday morning to lodge a protest against the passage of a Chinese navy ship through the contiguous zone near the Senkaku Islands, a Japanese territory over which China claims sovereignty.

A report in the South China Morning Post cites Chinese sources as stating that Beijing is preparing to impose an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the South China Sea, which would require all aircraft to allow China to track their movements in the region, even over the sovereign territory of other nations.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida left for a visit to China on Friday, in the opening bid to restore a damaged relationship between the two nations, even as the South China Sea grows increasingly tense.

Legislators in Japan’s Ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are urging Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to bring a case against China to an international tribunal to settle once and for all ownership over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

The Chinese navy is sending an advance missile frigate into the East China Sea, risking exacerbating tensions in waters it claims against Japan. The move follows a week in which the international community has condemned China’s illegal development of military facilities in the South China Sea.